Armenia considers Turkish parliamentarians’ concern with security of
Armenian Nuclear Power Plant to be groundless

2010-04-09 16:16:00

ArmInfo. The Armenian Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources has
responded to some Turkish parliamentarians’ excitement for the
Armenian Nuclear Power Plant (ANPP). The deputies of the Turkish
Parliament have recently made a groundless racket about the ANPP. They
expressed "concern with the fact" that the ANPP, which is 20 km away
from Igdir, operates in a seismic zone and endangers the eastern
regions of Turkey. They also pointed out that according to the
classification of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), from the
security viewpoint, the ANPP holds the last position but one out of
146 NPPs.

The press release of the Armenian Ministry of Energy and Natural
Resources says that these data are false as they are in not a single
document of IAEA.

The IAEA publication of 2009 "Nuclear Power Reactors in the World"
says that the number of nuclear power units in the world is 438, and
they are located on 200 platforms.

The issues related to the ANPP security are in the focus of constant
attention of the Nuclear Power Security Council under the Armenian
President, and the Council includes the best specialists of the world.
The measures on enhancing the ANPP security are coordinated by IAEA.
According to the requirements of the Convention on Nuclear Safety,
Armenia presents a "National Report on Nuclear Safety" to IAEA once
every three years. The report is available for all the IAEA member
countries.

As regards the seismic security, the seismic security of the ANPP
platform was monitored in 2009 with participation of international
experts. According to the monitoring, there are no reasons for any
concern.

In addition, within a radius of 50 km from the ANPP, the Armenian
population is 2,145 mln people, and the Turkish population is 126 thsd
people.